by Dena Christy
"Then what makes you think it's a delusion?" Ella gave her arm a squeeze before dropping her hand away.
"It has to be. There are no such things as dragon."
“How do you know that? Is it because you've never seen one? There are a lot of things in this world that we can't see, but I'm sure you believe in them. When you get sick with a cold it's because there are viruses that caused it. You can’t see them but you believe they are real. For centuries people thought those same viruses were evil spirits. Maybe there is magic, dragons and any number of things that are just as real as those organisms."
"It's impossible." It was, wasn't it?
"Is that your head talking or your heart? Your man doesn't strike you as unstable, and I think in your heart you are coming to realize that there might be some truth in what he has told you. It's why you're here. You would not have come to my shop if you weren't starting to doubt your own convictions. I saw a dragon in your future. The runes would not have shown that to me unless it was something a little more important than another dragon for your collection."
Lyssa knotted her hands in her lap. Dare she believe that what Andor had said was true? Could she believe him, or was she setting herself up for heartache like her mother had done so many times before.
"I don't know what to do." That was the real problem. She wanted to believe what he told her, if only to relieve the ache inside. But could she trust that feeling?
"Do you love him?"
"Yes. More than I've ever loved anyone before." That was the truth, and it was the source of the ache. She loved Andor, and she was beginning to think that she'd made a mistake by ignoring what her heart was telling her, even if her head was telling her that what he told her was impossible.
"Love is magic, and most people spend their lives looking for it without finding it. I think you know what you need to do. I cannot tell you how to live your life. I can only say that if I loved someone, I would hold onto him and never let him go."
Was it that easy? Could she go to Andor and tell him that she loved him and ask him to forgive her for not believing him?
"How can I go to him now? I said horrible things, I told him that he was delusional and needed help. He'll never forgive me."
"Do you think he loves you as much as you love him?"
Lyssa remembered the devastation in Andor's face when she refused to believe and knew the answer to that question. She nodded her head, unable to bring herself to admit what she'd thrown away.
"Go talk to him. I'm sure he'll surprise you. If he loves you as much as you love him, he will listen to what you have to say. Now go. Talk to him."
Lyssa stood and on impulse she gave Ella a quick hug. She felt so much better about the future.
"Thanks so much." Lyssa turned and strode out to her car. A feeling of calm settled over her, and the ache inside melted away. She was doing the right thing, and she was going to go to Andor and tell him how she felt. Hopefully he would forgive her for what she'd put them both through, and they could move on with their lives together.
Lyssa pulled into her driveway and nerves made her hands shake. She needed to stop here for a minute to get the dragon book and then she was going to go to Andor and ask his forgiveness for not believing him.
She got out of the car and hurriedly shut the door. Now that she knew what she was going to do, she was in a hurry to get it done. Hopefully he would forgive her and they could be together.
A movement caught the corner of her eye, and she turned her head to glance across the street. There, standing under the shadow of a tree, was a bald man with tattoos. Something tickled at the back of her mind as she slowly hitched her purse up on to her shoulder. It was the same man she’d seen after her lunch with Portia.
A shiver traced its way up her spine, and she laced her keys through her fingers. The man made no moved toward her, in fact, he pulled a phone from his pocket and turned away from her. He spoke in the phone as he walked down the street and disappeared around the corner.
She turned and looked at her house, and it looked the same at it always did. She didn’t know what the man was up to, but it couldn’t be a coincidence that he had been watching her when she’d left her lunch with Portia, and was watching her house now. She’d go inside, grab the book and go to Andor’s house.
With her spine straight, she marched up her front steps and put her key in the deadbolt. It turned as she unlocked it, and she pushed the door open and walked inside. The book was in the living room where she’d left it when she’d finished reading it. It would only take a second to pick it up and be on her way.
She walked in through the living room arch way, and stopped dead on the threshold. A man stood in her living room, one she had not seen for some time, but one she instantly recognized even though she could not see his face.
“So was the man standing outside watching the house a friend of yours, Kevin?”
He turned around, and she stared at the face of the man who’d terrorized her for months. In that time her mind had built him up to be some sort of boogie man, who seemed bigger and scarier than the pathetic man who stood in front of her now.
“Yes. I had him keep an eye on you while I was in jail, and even after I got bail. I needed to keep an eye on you, and couldn’t do it myself. I didn’t come here to hurt you, I just came to talk.”
After everything he’d put her through, he honestly believe that she was going to stand here and listen to him?
“We have nothing to talk about. You will get out of my house and I never want to see or hear from you again. And I don’t want your friend to be watching me any more either.” A calm took hold of her, and she realized that she wasn’t afraid of him. She’d moved past her fear of him, and he no longer had the power to control her.
“You know what he is.” His eyes darted down to the book, and back up to her. “You know that what I told you about myself is true. There isn’t any reason for you not to take me back now that you know that I’m not crazy.”
“I’m not taking you back.”
He took a step toward her, and grasped her hands. “Don’t you realize what this means. The reason you broke up with me is gone. Dragons are real, I’m not crazy and you need someone to protect you from him.”
She yanked her hands from his and took a step back. While he had been right about dragons, there was no way she was going to take him back. He was delusional if he thought that everything he’d put her through since their break up would be forgotten and forgiven. She certainly didn’t need his protection from Andor, when actually the opposite had been true for quite some time.
“We are never getting back together, Kevin. You need to leave.” Lyssa pulled her phone out of her purse. It was time to put an end to this bullshit.
Kevin snatched the phone from her hand and threw it aside, where it landed on her sofa. She made a move to retrieve it and he stepped in front of her, blocking her way.
“Please, I just want you to listen. We are meant to be together, Lyssa and I’m not going to lose you to him.”
She looked up at him looming over her, and something inside her snapped. After all the months of torment this man had put her through, after the restraining order and going to jail, he still hadn’t gotten the message. She brought her hands up and shoved him back. He stumbled away from her and a shocked look covered his face. This was the first time since all this had started that he hadn’t seen her cower away from him. She was done fearing him, and was ready now to get mad.
“You can’t lose me to him, because you lost me long before I met him. Did you think that you could stalk me, show up at my work and cause a scene and I’d be okay with it. Did you think you could break into my house and destroy my things, and I’d take you back?”
“I’m sorry about that. I lost control.”
“That doesn’t make it better. For a long time I actually believed, in some twisted corner of my mind, that I deserved a man like you. It took someone who was the opposite of you to show me
that I’m better than that. And I’m ashamed to say that I threw it away because a part of me still hadn’t caught on. For the first time in a long time, I see things clearly.
“I am in love with a man who would never think of harming me. Who would hurt himself before he would do anything to cause me pain. And that man is not you, Kevin. That man will never be you, and you are deluded if you think that after all you’ve done to me that I would ever allow you back into my life.”
It was as if the blinders had fallen away from her eyes and she could see clearly for the first time. She was not her mother. Kevin was the not the highest that she could aspire to, and she deserved better than what he had to offer her. She deserved Andor, and she could only hope that he would forgive her for what she’d said. If he did, she was going to spend the rest of her life loving him. Before she could do that, she needed to get rid of the man who stood in front of her with a look of disbelief on his face. It was time to take the power he’d stolen from her and use it against him.
“This is what’s going to happen.” She jabbed her finger in his gym swollen chest and he flinched. “You are going to turn around and walk out of this house and never darken my door again. Your friend is going to stop watching me. I’m never taking you back. I deserve better than you, and you can do whatever you want to me and it will not make any difference.”
“Lyssa, if you will only listen to me.”
“Don’t you get it? I’m done listening to you. It’s over. Get the fuck out of my house and don’t ever come back.” Her voice bounced against the walls as she shouted at him. Kevin’s jaw sagged as if he couldn’t believe that she was actually mad at him. It was this disbelief that allowed her to grab him by the arm and actually propel him toward the door. “Get out.”
Kevin’s jaw tightened and for a split second she thought that he was going to retaliate. She curled her fingers in toward her palms and tensed her body. Whatever he planned to do, she was done taking his shit. She’d fight back against him, and there was no way she was going to let him frighten her again.
His eyes shifted away and she knew in that moment that she’d won. She’d finally beaten him. He turned away and walked out the front door of her house. The door closed behind him, and her body trembled. She staggered back in to the living room and collapsed onto the sofa. A giddy laugh burst out of her as she hugged her arms around her middle. She did it. She finally stood up to Kevin and came out the winner. The anger and adrenaline that had seen her through her confrontation with Kevin seeped away from her and she curled up on the sofa and closed her eyes. She needed to rest a few moments to recover herself sufficiently to have the courage to go to Andor and beg him to forgive her.
The sun was dipping down toward the horizon by the time she opened her eyes again. She sat up straight on the sofa, disorientated for a few seconds. The dragon book on the coffee table caught her eye and it all came rushing back. She stood, gathered the book and her purse. It was time to go to Andor and tell him that she loved him.
19
Andor walked out of his house and toward the clearing. He could not take his brother and Rickman watching him any more. Tonight the Hunter's Moon would rise for the first of three nights, and he imagined that they were watching him for signs of madness. After trying repeatedly to tell them he was fine, he decided that being away from them was best, otherwise they would drive him mad before the moon had a chance.
He had given up on drinking away Lyssa's memory, since all the wine had done was give him a headache. It had failed to chase her from his thoughts, and there seemed little point to it. Now that the day he had been dreading was upon him, he wanted to think of her. If he was to die tonight, he wanted the last memories he experienced before the end to be of her.
He made it to the clearing and a chill chased up the back of his neck. He rubbed it as he scanned the trees around him. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary, and it could be the cool bite of autumn that was causing the chill. It didn't explain the feeling of being watched, but perhaps Rickman or his brother hadn't gotten their fill of spying on him. It didn't matter. Let them watch and worry.
The feeling of eyes upon him was chased away by the memories of Lyssa that came flooding back. He remembered bringing her here, when she had been concerned that he was keeping secrets from her. Perhaps he should have told her then about his true nature. It could not have gone any worse than the night he did tell her, and he could have shown her what he was instead of relying on her taking him at his word.
He stood in the spot where they'd made love and he would have given anything to have that moment back. Was it too late for them? Had he ruined his only chance with her? Could he try talking to her again, now that she had a chance to think about what he had revealed to her?
In his head, he knew that getting Lyssa to come back to him was a lost cause, but his heart cried out for her. He had never loved anyone the way he loved her, and he could not bring himself to believe that this was over. He longed to take his dragon form, to clear through the thoughts clamoring in his head. It was too dangerous to do it today of all days. He was more primal, more fierce in his dragon form and with the Hunter's Moon cresting tonight, transforming would only bring the madness closer. He could not risk it, even for the clarity it brought.
He raked his hands through his hair as he paced around the clearing. He wanted to shout to the heavens, to ask what he should do, but he would not find the answer there. Rickman seemed to think that there was still hope, that she might be willing to listen to him. He took a deep breath and pushed it out.
There was nothing left for him to lose by going to her. Tonight would be his last night alive if the madness took hold and his brother kept his word. He wanted to see her one last time. Even if she didn't believe him, he could at least say goodbye to her.
Peace settled over him once his mind was made up. He would go to her and talk to her to see if she could accept him for who he was. If not, he would at least face his death knowing that he had done everything he could to make her his.
A twig snapped behind him, and he rolled his eyes as a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Either his brother or Rickman could not content themselves with spying. It did not matter. He was leaving the clearing now that he had decided to see Lyssa one final time.
He turned around, and the smile on his face fell away when he saw that it was not his brother or Rickman who stood behind him. Kevin, who must have finally gotten his nerve back after his last confrontation with him, stood at the edge of the clearing with a rifle trained on him.
"I was wondering if you would ever crawl out of the hole you'd scurried away to." Andor crossed his arms over his chest while he waited for Kevin to speak. It appeared that Kevin was a dragon hunter in name only, since the weapon he held would have little affect on him. Unless he had bullets in that gun that were made of iron forged in dragon's fire, his weapon would be as harmless to Andor as a slap in the face.
“Lyssa isn’t going to take me back, and it’s all your fault. Even with knowing what you are, she still won’t come back to me.”
There was a desperate light in Kevin’s eyes and it was the same fevered look Andor had seen on the night of the gala. Time in jail had done nothing to dampen Kevin’s obsession with Lyssa. Andor’s attention was caught by what else Kevin had said. He knew that Lyssa was aware of his true nature, which mean that he had seen her since he had gotten out of jail.
Andor stepped forward with a growl and Kevin raised the rifle higher. “If you have hurt her, I will kill you.”
“I’m the one holding the gun, I’ll be making the threats. I only went to talk to her, not hurt her. She’s fine, but you won’t be if you you don’t back off.”
Andor stood still as he stared at his opponent. The bullets in Kevin’s gun would not kill him, but they would cause him some damage. It was damage he could not afford right now. If Kevin had gone to see Lyssa, she must be frightened. Andor was more certain than ever that he needed to go to her. The though
t of her, alone and scared, made him want to hold her and reassure her that the man standing in front of him would no longer haunt her.
“And she told you that she is never going back to you. Can you blame her? After everything you have done to her, how could you possibly think that she would allow you back into her life?”
Anger suffused Kevin’s face and he brought the rifle up to his shoulder and sighted it. “Shut up. I still would have had a chance to get her back if it weren’t for you. You are going to come with me, and I’m going to give her a choice. She can either come back to me or watch you die.”
The only thing that had been holding him back from killing Kevin was the madness that would rise within him this night. Murdering Kevin would only make it rise faster, and he didn’t want that if there was a small chance that he could get to Lyssa before the moonrise. He would try talking to this idiot one last time before he took more drastic measures. Surely he would see how ridiculous his plan was.
"What makes you think that I'm going to come with you willingly. It will take a lot more than you and that gun to make me go anywhere." For a self professed dragon hunter, Kevin didn't know a lot about hunting dragons. He had ten times the strength that a mortal man had, and without a proper dragon killing weapon this fight would not be an even match. He wouldn’t need to kill him in order to subdue him.
"You're coming with me and that it all there is to it. My gun will be just fine for what I have planned." As soon as that statement was out of his mouth, Kevin fired and a sharp pain struck Andor in the shoulder.
He looked down at what Kevin had shot him with, and he reached up to pull it out. It was a dart of some sort, and it swam in front of his eyes. He blinked his eyes hard but that failed to bring what he was looking at into focus. The dart fell from his numb fingers as he looked up at Kevin, who had morphed into three people.
"What have you done?" The words formed in his head, but what came out was unrecognizable jumble of sounds. The ground came rushing up to meet him as darkness swallowed him.